Friday, December 16, 2011

In my last post, I was preparing to start this year's NaNoWriMo. I'm sorry to say I did not win this year. Didn't even come close. But I'm not mad -- I had great reasons for my failure.I finished my first semester of college this week, and all during NaNoWriMo I was dealing with tests and research papers and homework... I was feeling a bit harried and overwhelmed, and honestly, school was infinitely more important to me than NaNo.

Officially, classes ended last week, but I had final exams this week. Just moments ago, my last grade posted, and I'm really really really excited. These grades aren't official, and they won't be until they're posted in the school system. Official grades are scheduled to post on December 23. Unofficially, though, I ROCKED this semester!

I think back to this summer, and my anticipation for starting school. When I say anticipation, what I really mean is abject terror. I was so scared! Scared of trying to tackle schooling again after being out for so long. Scared of being so old -- a combination of fear of the old dog/new tricks adage and of being the crusty old oddity in classes that garners attention for all the wrong reasons. Mostly, though, I was scared of failure.

My reality was so different. So much better. My terror forced me to work harder. I busted my but to avoid that failure. And I found that after the first week or so, I really didn't much care if I was the oldest in class. Once I got into the school groove, I was too busy with assignments to worry about what others thought of me. It didn't matter. I also discovered that as long as I applied myself, as long as I studied and worked hard, I didn't need to worry about being out of school for so long. I was able to do the work. I was able to take the tests. My result was the polar opposite of failure.

Now for my grades. I had two classes that graded on the regular 100 point scale, and two classes that graded on a 1000 point scale. My goal was straight A's, which means a 90-100 on the 100 point scale and 900-1000 points on the 1000 point scale. Here are my results with the 1000 point grades in blue, and the 100 point grades in green:

Introductory Psychology (PSYC 1101): 1010 points

Composition & Rhetoric (ENGL 1101): 99.76

College Algebra (MATH 1111): 99.3

Introduction to Computers (COMP 1000): 1120 points

You see that? ALL A'S! Yes, I'm proud of myself. And now that the semester's over, I'm taking this time to lay back and rest before the next semester starts on January 17th.

What Goes on Here?

I tried going blogless, but it turns out I must ramble.

My real name is Lynn Wood. My writer name is Lynn Daniels. Lately, I've been splitting the difference and calling myself Lynn Daniels Wood. No matter which Lynn I am, I talk a lot. My posts may not be frequent, but they're likely to be long.